Women who feel naked without their lipstick are well over thirty.
~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Monday, February 14, 2011

I Just Have to Post About Lady Gaga Again

Because I cannot, cannot believe how much her new song sounds like Madonna's Express Yourself. I know I'm behind the curve on this, but I truly hadn't even realized she had released a new song until I logged into iTunes the other night, saw it at #1 on the chart, and gave it a listen. My first thought on hearing the chorus was that I was hearing Madonna. Then, of course, I had to Google it, and found out everyone on the Internet has been talking about the similarities. Then her performance at the Grammy's last night was so old school Madonna it was ridiculous. So of course she attributed it to Whitney Houston of all people, who was pretty much Madonna's opposite back in the day. Bizarre.

Frankly, there's something about many of her songs that sound like something I've heard before. Alejandro sounds like a mix of Ace of Base and La Isla Bonita. Bad Romance sounds like...something. I know I've heard it before, from the intro part to the chorus to some of the other parts, but I just can't put my finger on it. Telephone also sounds familiar to me, but I'm not sure why. I know the excuse is that everyone gets inspiration from other artists and blah, blah, blah, but isn't Lady Gaga's whole schtick about how unique and influential and intelligent she is? I mean, I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest Katy Perry or Britney Spears fans, but at least when I hear their songs I'm not immediately reminded of some long forgotten song in the recesses of my brain.

The whole thing about Lady Gaga has just become so...strange. The stunts, the ego in her interviews, the admitting to drug use in interviews...it all makes her seem to be trying way too hard to be edgy and new, when in fact, she (at least to me) is starting to appear rather pathetic. I keep hearing what a great writer she is, but the lyrics to her songs are really trite. She's no different than the Katy Perry's or Ke$has or Rhiannas of the music scene. I mean, no wonder she wrote Born This Way in ten minutes -- she copied the chorus straight from Madonna. It will be curious to see whether Madonna (or whoever owns the copyright to Express Yourself) sues her. I can imagine a million reasons why she wouldn't. But, I'll tell you, as an IP attorney, she's got a case. On the other hand, maybe Lady Gaga will admit that she was "inspired" by Madonna's song, as she did in admitting that she was "inspired" by Ace of Base for Alejandro, as a result of some behind the scenes legal wrangling. Of course there are a lot of songs out there that sound alike, but it's not like Arcade Fire released a song that sounds like a Madonna song. I mean, Lady Gaga is the Madonna of this generation, and she went on stage at The Grammy's performing it with the high ponytail a la Madonna and has ripped off Madonna's videos regularly since she became Lady Gaga.

All in all, I'm still not impressed. And really, this whole schtick is going to wear out soon. Look at Marilyn Manson. His schtick got old, too. Madonna stuck around because she kept reinventing herself. Will Lady Gaga do the same?